The West's Best: "G" is for Gold Country

by Victor Williams

The Sierra foothills from Placerville to Yosemite make up one of California’s great unsung destinations. It’s all here: nature, history, solitude, outdoor recreation, indoor comforts. It’s secluded enough to retain its charm yet close enough to the big cities (Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose) to make a day trip doable. It’s little wonder that Bay Area refugees and other slow-lane seekers are giving Gold Country a serious relocation look. Heck, we might find ourselves there someday.

In the meantime, the region’s pot of golfing gold is nowhere near its brim, though two courses at its epicenter and one at its extreme edge comprise a worthy and wondrous getaway.

Let’s start at Saddle Creek in Copperopolis, where a town is being built from scratch along Highway 4, a few miles downhill from the old mining mecca of Angels Camp. When the master-planned town center opens next year with shopping, restaurants and other businesses, Saddle Creek’s residents won’t have to leave their little slice of paradise, the center of which is a Carter Morrish-designed golf course that’s so pure in place and execution that FG pegged it one of the state’s best the first time we played it. After reacquainting ourselves with it this fall, we can report it’s even better in every department, from conditioning to soft new sand in the bunkers. Routed through oak hills and wetlands with houses set well back from generous fairways and large greens, it has a special rhythm that engages the strategist’s soul from the first hole and doesn’t let go until No. 18, a tumbling beast of a par 5. Stir in sweet bungalow lodging, excellent food and smile-and-nod service and Saddle Creek is a no-brainer.

“We’re all about providing the total experience,” says Bill Troyanoski, whom Saddle Creek parent company Castle & Cooke hired as general manager about a year and a half ago. “We know we’ve got a great golf course, lodging and food, and we attract a lot of business groups during the week who want to know that their every need is taken care of. We work hard to make that happen.”

Saddle Creek will someday turn private in the CordeValle mode, allowing bungalow guests access to the course. And a Jack Nicklaus track will be built just over the hill. In other words, get it on your calendar now.

While you’re at it, tag on a couple of days for two more stops along the Gold Country golf trail, starting at Greenhorn Creek, which is Saddle’s neighbor but oh-so-far away in feeling, terrain and sensibility. Located in Angels Camp, it’s farther up in the hills with more abruptly rolling terrain and a more intimate overall feel. The golf course eschews big sky drama for more of a traditional parkland feel — narrow fairways, smaller greens, fewer bunkers and many more trees. Robert Trent Jones Jr.’s recent redesign made Greenhorn more playable and less susceptible to drainage issues; it weathers wet winters with nary a problem.

The resort’s CAMPS restaurant is an FG Golfing Gourmet-favorite steak and seafood house for dinner and more of a quick-and-easy spot for breakfast and lunch, with a special Bistro menu offering soups, sandwiches and salads. There’s onsite lodging through third-party-owned condos and private homes, and plenty of recreation options beyond golf. If a more understated, romantic getaway is what you’re after, Greenhorn Creek is the way to go.

Finally, down the mountain on the San Joaquin Valley floor near Merced, you’ll find Stevinson Ranch, which isn’t really in Gold Country proper, but close enough to make up the third point in a prospecting hacker’s travel triangle. The golf course is easily the toughest of the three, a John Harbottle-George Kelley barn-burner combining elements of links, heathland and parkland golf. It’s built on the longtime Kelley family ranch and is always in great shape, but you’ll care less about conditioning and more about surviving its twists and turns — double fairways, forced carries over water or wetlands, knolls and knobs that just love to turn an almost-perfect shot into a problem and, over the last three holes, enough trouble to derail your round in record time. No. 16 is one of the most diabolical 3-pars in creation, No. 17 is all about the uncomfortable but exciting tee shot and the finisher is a par 5 that puts pressure on even the most careful layup strategy. If it weren’t in the middle of nowhere, Stevinson Ranch has all the elements to host a big-time pro tournament. That ain’t gonna happen, so it’s up to us to mine its considerable riches. FG

Saddle Creek Resort 888.852.5787 | www.saddlecreek.com

Greenhorn Creek 888.736.5900 | www.greenhorncreek.com

Stevinson Ranch 209.668.8200 | www.stevinsonranch.com